Past events

Dr Haedar Nashir

Chairman of Muhammadiyah

We are pleased to invite you to a Distinguished Public Lecture hosted by the Monash Asia Institute (MAI) in collaboration with the Monash Office of Global Engagement, with Dr. Haedar Nashir as the speaker on the topic of Muhammadiyah and Progressive Islam in Indonesia.

Dr. Nashir is the current chairman of Muhammadiyah, which is the second largest Islamic
organization in Indonesia. 9277 schools, 171 universities, 500 hospitals and nursing homes sit
under Muhammadiyah. A member since 1983, Dr. Nashir was elected as a member of the central leadership board (2005-2015) and then Chairman in 2015. During his visit to Monash, he will be accompanied by 37 university representatives associated with Muhammadiyah.

Dr. Nashir will introduce the concept of Islam with progress (Islam berkemajuan) which was launched in the 47th national congress in Makassar, Indonesia. Dr. Nashir will explore the ways in which Muhammadiyah institutions counter the growing narrative of Islamic conservatism and socio-economic problems in Indonesia.

A conference for Melbourne based graduate students working on topics related to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

MAI with Australia India Institute and The Melbourne South Asian Studies Group invite graduate students writing PhD theses related to any of the countries of South Asia to present their work at a day-long conference.

The conference is intended to bring together graduate students from around the city to share their interest in the region and galvanise the chance to talk about their work to a knowledgeable audience of peers.

TO PARTICIPATE, please send your name, institutional and disciplinary affiliation, a title of your thesis and a very brief description (100 words or less) to Surjeet Dhanji
dhanji.surjeet@gmail.com by Wednesday 5 November 2017

From Counterculture to Subculture The Study of Social Movement in Japan after the 3.11 Disaster

This presentation discusses from a cultural perspective how young activists deconstruct conventional forms of organization and collective identity to construct alternative type of activism in contemporary Japan. Previous studies have regarded social movement as an organizational behavior based on collective political identity. However, the situation has drastically shifted after the 3.11 nuclear disaster. Some research shows that Japanese youth protesters no longer have definitive political membership and organizational principle in their activism. They tend to participate in demonstrations as individual and do not commit themselves to long-term participation in a particular activism. This presentation argues that the shift of youth movement has much to do with the decline of youth counterculture in the era of individualization. Youth's participation in social movement does not show a shared ideology, principle, political style against the mainstream, which counterculture used to have and differentiate into numerous kinds of subcultures with individualized fashion, preference and purpose of political participation.

Inclusionary Utopias, Exclusionary Politics

MAI is pleased to invite you to its Conference on “OTHER ASIANS, ASIA’S OTHERING; Inclusionary Utopias, Exclusionary Politics” on 30-31 October 2017. The conference will open with a public keynote address by Professor Krishna Sen (The University of Western Australia) in the evening of 30 October 2017. On the next day, there will be three panel sessions, each focussing on one of the MAI central research themes for 2017 (see below). Overall, the conference deals with two distinct but related issues; empirical observation and questions of method: recent changes in Asia and the challenge of analysing these changes.

CHANGES IN ASIA: Asia has changed dramatically in multiple dimensions in the past three decades, of which the speed and scope of demographic mobility and cultural fluidity are some of the most striking. We witness the escalation and intensification of mobility, diversity and connectivity in relation to newly configured politics of inclusion/exclusion. Why and how politics of race has gained momentum for a while in some circles, while politics of religion, gender, or class gained more currency in other times or social settings? Where and when do they intersect, blend, or contradict across Asia and over trans-Asia?

STUDYING ASIA: Ironically, when such rapid changes taking place across Asia and require fresh analyses and comprehension, formal training “Asian studies” in schools and universities outside Asia has been in serious decline or under institutional threat. Where such studies survive, there has been a significant rise of Asians studying Asia outside Asia, including Australia in its multiple framework and focus: studying Asia ‘in’ Australia, studying ‘Asians in Australia’ and studying ‘Australia as part of Asia’. What does it mean to study Asia in the new millennium? How and why the Cold War-styled “Asian studies” has been outdated; how today’s Asia poses institutional and methodological challenges to studying Asia, in and/or outside Asia? How can trans-Asia approaches contribute to the debate?

The papers will examine MAI's three key themes: 1) Migrants, Diaspora & Identity politics; 2) Mobility, Diversity & Inclusion; 3) Media and cultural practices, although proposals that are in other intriguing ways relevant to the conference topic will also be considered. Papers will focus on a single nation or metropolitan area in Asia, but priority has been given to papers with focus on trans-Asian issues, international dimension of a local issue, a comparative perspective of more than one nation, or innovative insights into the future of studying Asia in Australia. Innovative approaches and new interrogations of methods of studying Asia are most welcome. Early Career Researches are strongly encouraged.

The 6th Asian Australian Studies Research Network (AASRN) conference, “Embodiments and inhabitations”, will be held on 25-26 October 2017 at the Immigration Museum, Melbourne. The event is affectionately known by network members as ‘AAI 6’, in keeping with AASRN tradition.

We hope you can join us for what is already shaping up to be a very exciting and unique event.

Indonesia has a very large population comprising hundreds of ethnic groups. The ethnic Chinese are one of the largest, but their numbers are much smaller than is commonly believed. Historically, they have been treated differently from other ethnic groups, especially during the three decades of President Suharto’s New Order regime. Since 1998 formal discrimination against them has been repealed. Have the Chinese been ‘normalised’? What does the experience of Ahok in the recent Jakarta gubernatorial election say about this?

Bio

Charles Coppel is an Honorary Principal Fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at The University of Melbourne. He has been researching the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia for more than half a century. His publications include Indonesian Chinese in Crisis (1983), Studying Ethnic Chinese in Indonesia (2002), and the edited volume Violent Conflicts in Indonesia (2006). His contribution to the field was recognised in the festschrift edited by Tim Lindsey and Helen Pausacker, Chinese Indonesians: Remembering, Distorting, Forgetting (2005) and his contribution to Indonesian nation-building by a NABIL Foundation Award (2009).

Lecture Room 5-109, Department of Music, Ueno Campus, Tokyo University of the Arts

(With English-Japanese simultaneous interpreting)

Immigration Museum in Melbounre, Australia has been dynamically engaging with formal and informal education and community activities to enhance cultural diversity in society through artistic installation and interactive visual program as well as historical exhibition of migration. A similar concern has been developing in Japan where many actors such as Immigration Museum Tokyo pilot program have organized artistic projects. This symposium aims to advance dialogue between Japan and Australia to collaboratively promote cultural diversity in society.

Strengthening Australia and Indonesia's Bilateral Relations

Monash Arts is delighted to present the Dean's Alumni Lecture Series, featuring alumni who are eminent leaders in their fields.

Hosted by the Dean, Professor Sharon Pickering, this inaugural lecture features Ibu Dewi Wahab, Consul General of Indonesia (Victoria and Tasmania), with a response by Professor Ariel Heryanto and questions from the audience. The event will also feature the book, 'Footprints of Indonesians in Victoria' presented by Professor Margaret Khartomi.

This free event is open to alumni, staff, students and the public. Drinks, canapés and desert will be served. Registration essential by Thursday 5, October.

Narrating one’s own experience is a significant act of empowerment for a person with multicultural backgrounds. However such narrative is often listened to as a story of “ethnic minorities”, not as that of fellow citizens co-dwelling in society. Featuring three acclaimed creative writers, this seminar will discuss the ways in which migrant or diasporic stories are addressed as a member of society and received without being reduced to “their” stories.

Speakers

Rebecca Lim is an award-winning writer and illustrator of sixteen books. Shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award, Aurealis Award and Davitt Award for best YA, Rebecca’s work has also been longlisted for the Gold Inky Award, the David Gemmell Legend Award and the Children’s Book Council Award Book of the Year Award. Her novels have been translated into German, French, Turkish, Portuguese and Polish. She is editing an anthology of Australian voices with Amberlin Kwaymullina.

Dr. Michelle Aung Thin was born in Burma, and is the current National Library of Australia Creative Arts Fellow for Australian Writing. She is of Anglo-Burmese, of mixed Burmese, Indian, Dutch and German descent. Her current project is about the experience of seeing Yangon, the city of her birth. Her first book was the acclaimed ‘The Monsoon Bride’, and her second book will be about her return to Burma.

Alice Pung is an award-winning author and editor of ten books, including ‘Unpolished Gem’ and ‘Her Father’s Daughter’, and the editor of ‘Growing Up Asian in Australia.’ She also writes for the Age, the Monthly, and the Good Weekend. Alice is the current Artist in Residence at Janet Clarke Hall, the University of Melbourne.